An unplanned hike around Freudenstadt

I went on an unplanned adventure and ended up in Freudenstadt. To get here I randomly got on a train passing through my station. So I just walked up and boarded whichever vehicle arrived first. It could have been the U-Bahn, the S-Bahn or a train. But it happened to be a train. We had transferred here once on the way from Strasbourg. Other than that I did not really know much about the city either.

Another feature of the city was that it had the largest built up market square in Germany. This place is not very old founded in 1599. Up ahead came the sound of the local church directly. I crossed the street. There were shaded areas, making it possible to walk in the shade and protect oneself from the heat if the weather was hot.

Then I reached the market square. But I would not say it was actually extremely large. The church, however, was indeed quite big. Buses came directly here. I even saw small minibuses here. Small sightseeing trains were driving around as well.

From here it was quite easy to head straight into the Black Forest. There were various waterfalls, hiking trails and similar things there. But of course, one needed to be a bit prepared. I needed to take water with me, maybe some food. But all of these remained as thoughts.

There were many cyclists as well. It was quite common here too. They gather together and go somewhere, then drink beer at some spot and then carry on. I did not remember fully. I think it was in Spain or maybe France, depending on a person's weight, they were allowed to drink almost a bottle of wine after a meal.

I walked around the whole square. I had seen everything. The city was built around this square. There was the direction to Strasbourg and the direction to Tübingen was here too. Tübingen was not very far anyway. Looking at the map, I saw a waterfall nearby. I thought it should be walkable up to there.

The map was taking me downhill, but I thought I could somehow loop around the waterfall. The view was beautiful. It was really starting to look like a forest now. I probably had to go downward. I had no idea. I thought I would try to find a bus on the way back.

This place was quite lovely. On the right side, a sign said Bärenschlössle for a spot. Since all the signposts were pointing right, I turned right down the stairs. The bike path was quite nice too. There was a beautiful staircase here that looked like it was made of granite. It was new and illuminated. Apparently they put effort into making this place. When everything was restored, they hundred percent restored this as well.

The sign was pointing left. In one spot it said Fluss. I wanted a river anyway. According to the signpost, I needed to head toward Christophstal. I turned left and walked in that direction. As I went downward, I really started to hear the sound of water. There were viewpoints and a few benches here too. I thought I would probably walk along the river for a while.

I just did not like that we were going down, because I would most likely have to climb back up later. Going uphill in the heat was not much fun. Though to be honest, it was not very hot here. The high altitude was making itself felt. Up ahead, other people were walking too. There were people cycling. I figured that was probably where I needed to go as well.

Actually I had no destination. I had not planned to see anything anyway. I could have just gone as far as the city and returned. But things like this were interesting, new. I did not have a charger with me either. No food, no water, no cash. I was walking in sandals. And to think I had supposedly come prepared for everything. I did not have a hat either. Though I was walking around without a hat now anyway. I had realized it was cooler this way. In Spain the temperature was over 40. My hair stayed cool anyway. So it was no problem.

I arrived at the substation in Christophstal. That is, Christoph valley. It was a very interesting name. I had an acquaintance named Christoph whom I had not seen in a long time. I think I had not seen him since January. He came to mind. The river was not very rushing, of course. In my opinion more water should have been flowing here.

In the end I was going down this valley, not up into the mountains. Since I had picked a completely random point on the map, I might as well go the way the map showed. At least I would have a plan and stick to it.

They were selling furniture along the way. It was interesting. They probably manufactured it here. I saw a structure standing over the river. The interesting thing was that the river flowed right beside the house. Meaning it was built directly over the river. It was an interesting settlement.

Heading down along the river was always nice. As long as there was a path alongside the river. Because as I have said many times before, in Germany this is not always possible. Sometimes the path goes toward another mountain for 500 meters, then turns back and you start walking along the river again.

Here the paths were really surprising. They were paved with stone, there was asphalt. Everything looked more than pleasant. But the viewpoint seemed a bit lacking. If only there were a shaded spot. My watch was showing 25 degrees at that moment. I could believe it. The elevation was making itself felt. Also, the river water was probably cold. I had no idea where it emptied into. But where I was at that moment was Christophstal. That was all I knew about where we were.

I was also surprised that there were so many people. So this was indeed a popular place. There were a few cafes and a crowd. Up ahead I also saw a lake. The lake was small and probably cold. There was also a rope. You could pull this rope from one corner to another. It was a very nice thing, really interesting. I thought it was quite fun.

Eventually I got back onto the stone paved and asphalt road. I thought I would never know where I was walking, but I found myself right inside civilization. In these parts, you can really reach places within an hour and a half or two hours, without a car, using only public transport. If you have a car, it is even easier anyway. With a 60 euro monthly transit ticket, you can reach almost the whole region, anywhere you want. Yes, sometimes transport works ridiculously and similar things happen, but it is still cheap.

Wherever you look in Germany, there is something. I saw old houses, but they were not ancient. The ancient ones were further ahead. Some of the houses here were perhaps 400 years old. Some were 200 years old. A house of this age is still considered young here. I do not know how much time is needed to see everything here. If you add neighboring regions to this, for example Bavaria which is even more interesting, it takes even longer.

They raise fish in the ponds here and there were really a lot of fish. The water was crystal clear too. Apparently all this water came from the local river. It had Forellen written on it. So it was trout. There was always something interesting.

A slightly wider valley had formed beside the river. I decided to try it. The water was cool, but not ice cold. If desired, it was possible to cool off, even dip feet into the water. Because you could easily approach right next to it.

There was a house for bats. It was not surprising to have bats here. Also we can take books from the Book Tree and exchange them of course. Meaning, you leave your own books here, take the ones here and read. We used to do similar things back in the day too. It was an interesting format. Normally these used to be without a cover. They were just covered with thick plastic or nylon. Here, they had made a nice, interesting door directly.

Being here unexpectedly was the funniest thing. I probably should have come here allocating a full day. The direction was really nice. I was walking downhill continuously. If I went to the waterfall, I would probably leave the path too. I had not decided for sure yet. But if I kept walking along this river, I would reach the next small town. There was an S-Bahn there too. I did not know how frequently it operated here.

Then I could turn back, reach all the way to Freudenstadt and catch the train from there. Somewhere in this valley, something like a train line was actually passing through. Cyclists were heading in that direction. There were children among them too. Beer was being sold as well. That same Alpirsbacher again.

Meanwhile the scenery had changed a bit. The path had narrowed. Part of the road was now up above. On our side, there was a separate path for pedestrians. There were nice lakes here too. I was passing by lakes with small islets in their middle. They were really interesting places. There were benches too, but for some reason a fence had been put up. Maybe it was private property, I did not know. Seeing someone standing with a fishing rod behind the fence, I thought this was again a trout or another fish farming pond. Maybe fishing was permitted at the same time too.

There were other fish as well. It was probably not very possible for pike to live here. I decided to go up to the bridge and look. This way, I also found a place around Freudenstadt where fishing could be done.

Beer was being sold again. Great. It had We are open for you today written on it. This was the third beer spot I encountered along the way. I was heading to Friedrichstal. 300 meters remained. There was an interesting stone with benches and a church as well. So I had reached this small settlement. I had thought it was a bit bigger. Seeing a place this small and with a complete village atmosphere was unexpected for me. This place was really very atmospheric. It sat right under the mountain.

I wondered what happened here when there were floods. I was even afraid to think about it. Because there was Nagold, which we passed while coming here by train. Or rather, we had not passed directly through it, we had passed close by. As far as I remembered there had been issues with floods for several years. Because the city sat in a basin among many hills.

Finally I got onto the road where I needed to go further. It was clear that the road in this state would end soon. It was wide. And yes, I was heading toward the mountains again. I had descended to 600 meters. Freudenstadt was around 730 to 750 meters.

I saw the Heimat Archive. In short, this was the municipal archive. Things related to the history of these parts were probably located here. Behind the archive, there was a church overlooking the view of the hills. Though I thought putting the archive here was a bit bad. It ruined the view.

As for me, we needed to head into the forest forever. I did not know how much further I would walk. My legs were starting to ache now. Then I would have to return to another settlement again. Really a great plan. As reliable as the local Cuckoo clock. Speaking of Cuckoo clocks, yes this was the Black Forest. The view here was really very beautiful. Very, very lovely.

Up ahead was the Ebana stop. But for some reason, two excavators were standing next to it. It was probably not operating. The bus stop was a bit further ahead. I could also see where I had come from. Up above at the head of the valley was Freudenstadt. So using this path, after walking for about an hour and fifteen minutes, coming down from Freudenstadt and catching the S-Bahn here could really be a nice route. There was almost no slope, just a small incline.

But we had decided to go further and explore places where I did not know what was there. The S-Bahn. Of course I could check whether it was operating, but that would be too easy. So I continued climbing the mountain, even conquering these peaks. Finally I came out onto a scenic path. It was really great. I could have gone along the bike path there too. But it would be a bit boring. So I chose to get out of breath by climbing.

It did not last long though. I just wanted to see what the paths here were like. Four people came toward me from the mountain. So I was not lost. All of them were walking in sneakers, even trekking shoes. As for me, I had set out to look for the waterfall in my sandals. I will include the continuation of my adventures in my next post. See you soon